Wednesday, August 9, 2017

Emperor Hadrian's Mosaic of the Doves

The Capitoline Mosaic of the Doves was discovered in 1737 during archaeological excavations of Emperor Hadrian’s Villa.

The Doves Mosaic unearthed in 1737 at Hadrian's Villa.

While some scholars believe this beauty is the actual Dove Mosaic built by
the famous 2nd century BC Sosus of Pergamon and mentioned by Pliny in his Natural History, others believe it to be a 2nd century AD copy of it made for Hadrian.

Numerous copies were made of this mosaic, even into late
antiquity. In addition to Tivoli, these have been found at Delos; at
Pompeii and Capua...

Doves Mosaic unearthed in Pompeii 1st century BC

In other parts of the Empire and in the Christian
mausoleums of Santa Costanza in Rome and Galla Placidia in Ravenna.

Doves Mosaic with svastika borders in Malta, 1st century.

Doves Mosaic from Ostia Antica, 1st Century BC

Doves Mosaic - Mausoleo of Galla Placidia, 5th Century AD

I consider the finest of all to be the emblema discovered at Hadrian’s Villa, made of thousands of very small tesserae - 2 to 3 mm squares, a technique named opus vermiculatum,
by far the most sophisticated mosaic technique.

The tesserae used to build this border were no bigger than 3 mm (0.11"). Usually this size of tessera was only used for the center piece - the emblema, and regular Opus Tessellatum built from bigger tesserae was used for the borders. Hadrian was a protector of the Arts. Those kind of Chef d'Oeuvre were only assembled in a couple of very specialized workshops of the Empire by very highly skilled craftsmen.

Those variations of a same pattern are an other example of the way ancient musivarii worked. I believe they had books or scrolls of models for the architets or patrons to chose from. In some cases, several patterns were mixed in a same mosaic (I will write something later about the parrot you can see in the lower right corner of the piece from Ostia...)

One reason why I am visiting many sites and museums in Europe is that I am putting together a library of geometric patterns used by the Romans. This is taking quite some time as those patterns are anything but simple. They are, however, gorgeous, and they bring to any center piece the same depth a vibrant frame brings to a painting.

3 comments:

Hello Frederic! I wanted to share a museum my husband and I visited a few years ago in Vienne, France that I absolutely love. Here is the link, if you are interested in checking it out: http://www.i-c-mosaics.com/ideas/europe/vienne-mosaic-museum.html - Thank you! Enjoy your newsletter! Lou Ann Weeks

Thank you Lou Ann. I had planned to visit this museum during my last trip in France (2 weeks ago) but it was unfortunately closed the way i drove through Vienne. In France the great majority of museums are closed on Tuesday. Unfortunately this one was close on Monday... And the Gallo-Roman museum of Saint Romain en Gal, on the other side of the Rhône river, was also closed. So i kept driving... Next time !

Lyon - Lugdunum was the capital of the Gauls for 4 or 5 centuries while Lutece (Paris) was still a little town at the beginning of the Christian Era, the amount and quality of mosaics to be seen in the area is flabbergasting !

Thank you. I had planned to visit this museum during my last trip in France but it was unfortunately closed the way i drove through Vienne. In France the great majority of museums are closed on Tuesday. Unfortunately thiss one closes on Monday...And the GalloRoman museum of Saint Romain en Gal, on the other side of the Rhône river, was also closed. So i kept driving... Next time !

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About the Artist, February 2014

"The meaning of Life is to find your gift - The purpose of Life is to give it away".

My Art is about inspiring people to make the world a better place. Creativity is much more an attitude than a know how.

When Francois Rabelais wrote : “Science sans conscience n'est que ruine de l'ame”, he meant that Science without awareness of the possible adverse effects of its application is the ruin of one's soul. This is also true of art and creation for its own sakes is a waste of one's energy.

An artist's work should be fed by 2 complementary currents:

An aesthetic and creative flow by which the artist actually creates. In this act of creation, the artist actually allows something bigger than him to be expressed through him.

A spiritual, religious or social one, through which the artist harnesses this creative current to serve the community that supports him.

My work is mostly inspired by the Arts of Classical Rome and European Renaissance. Zen Buddhism and the concept of “Do” omnipresent in Oriental cultures are the spiritual counterpart to these aesthetic influences.

I create to share my passions and bring people to realize they have in them what it takes to be creative in all domains. If you have the attitude, you will acquire the know-how. After years of experimentation and work with great masters, I want to share what I have learned and researched to inspire others to give the best of themselves.